Carla, Jack, and AVL - build problem?

[ZestieBumwhig]

A little ditty bout Jack and Debian:

I am running AVL-MXE on a new-to-me computer. Carla (the current version, 2.3.2, but 2.3.1 as well) has an issue where the Patchbay tab lacks its usual functionality (the piano keyboard doesn't work, and GUI and editing options don't come up when right- or double-clicking the plugins). I asked about this on Reddit, and a user who I'm certain is FalkTX said this:

As said in many Carla releases, the integration in the patchbay under jack multi-client mode requires the jack version in use to support meta-data. Request a fix from AVLinux, they're the ones that have to fix this. (in terms they can understand, you can say libdb-dev build dependency is missing)

I don't know if there's something I'm doing wrong, and if others have had this issue; I definitely have libdb-dev installed. I also don't know if this is something I can fix myself until(?) the relevant changes are made. I don't know how to add a build dependency, but I could try... I'm assuming I'd git-clone and install jack2 myself, altering some stuff in one of the files... sounds kinda scary...

(I think I'm not alone, at least as of three months ago: https://linux.debian.bugs.dist.narkive. ... is-missing )

[GMaq]

Hi,

I'm not trying to shirk any responsibility here but this is NOT up to me to fix, AV Linux is not a free-standing Distribution it is Debian-based MX Linux Respun, adapted and targeted for Pro-Audio use with the Debian and MX Tools that are already at hand. The extent of what I package and maintain are the AVL-specific tools (AVL-MXE-Assistant, Thunar Custom Action related scripts) and the formulation of Plugin Demos and Reaper into removable Deb Packages.. I do not package PulseAudio, JACK or any of the Audio servers and related bridges that accompany them, they are all either Debian's own Packaging, MX Linux Packaging or KXStudio Packaging and if Carla requires a special build of JACK and if falkTX is both the developer of Carla and the lead maintainer of JACK and one requires something special from the other then I don't see what I can really do about this..

The best case scenario for everyone downstream of this is for Debian to provide what is required in it's JACK Packaging, secondly perhaps falkTX could provide KXStudio JACK Packages with the necessary required features for Carla..

[ZestieBumwhig]

Thanks GMaq, and that makes sense... I sort of thought it was at a non-AVL level, ie, Debian or MX or Jack.

That leaves me with two questions, one for the good of the community, and one for the good of me.

Should I report this upstream somewhere? MX or Debian? Seems like it's Debian, based on the link I shared originally.

And is building Jack myself (with the relevant build dependency) a good option? I certainly wouldn't expect any hand-holding, but if it IS a feasible endeavor, I'd be most obliged if someone could point me in the right direction (ie, is it basically remove my Jack; git-clone; add a configure flag --db, and build? Or is this a horrible idea?)

[GMaq]

Thanks GMaq, and that makes sense... I sort of thought it was at a non-AVL level, ie, Debian or MX or Jack.

That leaves me with two questions, one for the good of the community, and one for the good of me.

Should I report this upstream somewhere? MX or Debian? Seems like it's Debian, based on the link I shared originally.

And is building Jack myself (with the relevant build dependency) a good option? I certainly wouldn't expect any hand-holding, but if it IS a feasible endeavor, I'd be most obliged if someone could point me in the right direction (ie, is it basically remove my Jack; git-clone; add a configure flag --db, and build? Or is this a horrible idea?)

MX is kind of a middle-man in this scenario and I don't think it would be terribly useful for them to get into packaging JACK, I think Debian makes most sense but I'm not sure how responsive they will be to alter JACK for an application (Carla) that is not within Debian so I think the most likely place to get something done is KXStudio. If it could be demonstrated that this shortcoming in the default JACK packaging affects Ubuntu-based Distros in addition to Debian/MX/AVL-MXE then it might be a bit more of a catalyst to get falkTX to provide updated/improved JACK Packages

Reports can go here: https://github.com/KXStudio/Repository/issues

To be honest I have not built JACK from source in a few years now however as I recall it is neither difficult to build nor does it require a lot of dependencies.. The biggest thing to be wary of is having 2 parallel JACK installs. Debian's package will install JACK to the prefix of /usr and building JACK from source will probably by default install to /usr/local which is not good because you will then have executable JACK binaries in 2 locations so you should ensure your JACK build configuration specifies '--prefix=/usr' in whatever syntax the build system utilizes (is it waf now....?). Secondly read the JACK build instructions carefully to ensure you have the build dependencies installed to enable your extra wanted features..

[varpa]

I'm trying to understand what problem you are having. I am also running Carla 2.3.2 in AVL-MXE. You are running Carla in Multiple clients mode I guess. I loaded a synth in Carla. I see that in the Patchbay tab there is a greyed-out keyboard at the bottom and it never becomes active even if I select the synth box in the Patchbay tab. Is that what you mean? I can however, get a working keyboard by clicking the wrench icon in the Rack tab which opens up a panel to edit synth parameters. Also you say you cannot open the plugin GUI by double-clicking the plugin box in the Patchbay tab. I do not get this either, but I never tried before. Right-clicking in the Patchbay gives options for Jack connections, which seems sensible since this is the Patchbay tab. I can get a GUI by clicking the gear icon in the RACK tab. Anyway, I was not aware of the Patchbay options you say are missing, but it seems you can get the features you want from the Rack tab.

[novalix]

Hi,

here is some good and some not that good news.
There is already a patch in the source repo of the debian packaging:
https://salsa.debian.org/multimedia-tea ... 61f5656413
That would be easy to apply to the package source of your release.
On the other hand there is no compiled binary package containing that change in any of the debian branches, not even unstable.
https://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/ ... _changelog
It is freezing time. Still a few weeks to go.

[ZestieBumwhig]

Hi @varpa - what you're describing is exactly my situation. But it's supposed to be better! You should be able to open the plugins from the Patch Bay tab (the same two options you get on the Rack tab, with the gear and the wrench). Also, the "piano" should be playable, playing whatever synth is selected. It's worked like this before, and on other distros... so apparently there's something wrong with the Debian build.

I'll be submitting bug reports, and writing my congressman.